Strong winds, dry conditions lingering across SoCal but looming rain raises landslides fears

Students impacted by the Palisades Fire are slowly returning to some sort of normalcy as schools are beginning to reopen.

On Tuesday, Webster Elementary welcomed back students.

The district said Malibu Elementary, Middle and High schools still don't have power and remain closed.

"We're monitoring conditions and will notify families of changes," said the district in a post on X.

The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District said it's taken steps to address air quality concerns, including installing air filters in classrooms, asking staff to keep windows and doors closed, adjusting outdoor activities, and monitoring air quality index levels.

The district is also asking families who lost homes or are displaced to fill out a survey to better understand and support their needs.

Over in Pasadena, students will be returning to school on Thursday.

Pasadena Unified will reopen schools in phases over a two-week period, with all students back to school by the end of January. Campuses located furthest from the fire zone will reopen first.

Each campus will reopen only after cleaning, sanitizing and testing for safe environmental levels.

Here's a list of PUSD schools reopening on Thursday.

• Hamilton Elementary

• Willard Elementary and *Children's Center

• Blair Middle and High School

• San Rafael Elementary

• McKinley School

• *Rose City High School

• *Center for Independent Study

• *Pasadena Adult Living Skills

• *Twilight Adult School

• *Aveson Global Leadership Academy (charter) - Sports Academy

*located on the Wilson campus

Strong winds gusted across the Inland Empire overnight and into Tuesday morning, keeping the region on alert for any potential fires.

Crews responded overnight to a fire at a Southern California Edison substation near Alder Avenue and Sierra Lakes Parkway in Rialto. Video from the scene showed the whipping winds creating erratic fire behavior.

The cause of the fire has not been determined, and the extent of the damage remains unclear.

Strong winds gusted across the Inland Empire overnight and into Tuesday morning, keeping the region on alert for any potential fires.

Meanwhile, residents in mountain and foothill communities of the Inland Empire were bracing for possible power shutoffs amid the gusty conditions.

SoCal Edison says it could cut power to more than 250,000 customers on Tuesday.

Evacuation orders that were issued have expanded due to a growing vegetation fire that broke out in the Bonsall area of San Diego County Tuesday morning.

As of 4:10 a.m., the Lilac Fire has grown more than 50 acres, according to Cal Fire.

The red flag warning that will be in effect through Tuesday comes with the possibility that Southern California Edison could turn off power to decrease the fire danger, but the repeated public safety shut offs are beginning to take a toll on some mountain residents.

"We're the richest state in the nation, the fifth largest economy in the world, and we can't keep our power on," said Adam Blankenship, who has lived in the mountains for 22 years. He said he had never seen this many power shutoffs in just a matter of weeks.

"We've had 60 to 70 mph winds, I've had branches hit my car before, and never had the power gone out. It's happening all the time," Blankenship said. "When snowmageddon happened, we had 8 feet of snow, but people still had their power."

Frustration is building among mountain residents, with a red flag warning that could last for days.

"So you're cut off for three days with no phone, no electricity, candles, we're almost in the dark ages," said Paul Offenbacher.

He uses propane to keep his house warm, but he said many residents that rely on electricity don't have generators. That includes several businesses in the mountain community, like Higher Grounds Coffee.

"We've faced now four days that we've not been able to be open in the last couple weeks, so that really has negatively impacted our business," said Chad Lindsey.

At higher elevations, it can get dangerously cold.

"My house never gets over 60 degrees," said Offenbacher. "It can get down in the 20s [at night]."

If the power does get shut off again, residents hope it's for a good reason.

"We're trusting in their good judgement to know that they're preventing what has happened down in L.A., so the priority is safety," said Lindsey.

There were no reported outages as of Monday night in Crestline, but for some neighborhoods north of Lake Arrowhead and Running Springs, the power was shut off in the afternoon.

To check power outages in your area, click here.